Question about Impetus Baroque

[d_Guy]

It seems that several of you are following developments on the Impetus:Baroque release..
I saw their blog notice that Baroque (ENG) would ship to pre-orderers on March 14, 2016 but have found no way to order it.
I emailed D&P about four days ago but have not recieved a reply. Their website seems to be in flux at the moment.
So - does anyone know how to go about getting a copy?

Also - I have the free copies of Impetus Basic and Baroque Basic. Is it likely that I will have to buy anything other than Baroque to make the system work!

Incidentally I have noticed elsewhere that folks seem to be getting testy about Baroque. Not sure if this has to do with the glacial speed of the release or the rehashing of same. So - I really am not trying to irritate - I apologize if I do.

[Zippee]

We forum members were given the opportunity to register for a pre-order.

We just received the payment request for that - here is the text of that email of 7th March:

Hello,
if you receive this e-mail it is because you have pre-ordered a copy (or more) of Baroque.

I will go to retire the books from the printers the next week-end and start shipping from Monday 14th.

To keep things faster, I have created a page with paypal links to buy the rules reserved for pre-orders. Just choose the geographic area were you are from to get the right price (that includes shipping).

If you need more than one copy, just buy again on the same button.

The page will be removed by the end of the month.

To buy the rules go to this link:
http://dadiepiombo.it/baroque-po.html

For any questions just drop me a line

Best regards

Lorenzo Sartori
D&P

To email Lorenzo directly use losart@libero.it

I expect the real order page will be up some time soon as today is the 14th !!!!!!!!!

[Nosher]

Nice to know this is just around the corner. Stayed off the forum so had lost track of when it's due out. Does anyone know if there will be a UK distributer?

[Zippee]

And just posted on the forum at 16:27
http://impetus.ativiforum.com/t746-baroque-released

Not time yet to updated the website (something that I plan to do tomorrow) but Baroque is officially out. First pre-orders shipped this morning. Other will follow tomorrow.

North Star, Caliver and (in Germany) Worean will have the rules in stock very soon.

So I have something to read for the weekend  

[it's like they woz answering Nosher before he (it?) asked]

[Nosher]

Nice one. Northstar it is. Top service

[d_Guy]

Zippee,

Thanks!  I hadn't thought to join the Impetus forum. Will probably wait now for their order site to have Baroque up ( or one of the rules companies in the states). Once you've had a chance to look at the full rules maybe you can advise on the need to buy other Impetus rules to use Baroque? ( you did say you would be reading this weekend  )

[Zippee]

No worries, will report back. 

To the best of my knowledge (and I'd be shocked if this is wrong) but Baroque are a full stand alone product - you don't need Ancients Impetus to play them.

The development sets tend to be just enough to let you test mechanics using the Impetus rules as a core - Baroque is no longer a development set of mechanics.

My only irritation is that the official basing changes size from Impetus - there's a number of troops that cross the period divide! I strongly suspect I'll continue to use Impetus bases but we'll see.

[paulr]

My only irritation is that the official basing changes size from Impetus - there's a number of troops that cross the period divide! I strongly suspect I'll continue to use Impetus bases but we'll see.

You really have to wonder what drives a design decision like that

[Zippee]

Just to report that it has arrived - first impressions are good.

No time to read as tonight is D&D and tomorrow is my NEBOSH exam so I'm a bit pushed for reading time 

Will report back later.

[d_Guy]

Thanks for the update Zippee - I did hear from D&P just a bit ago and my copy is now ordered - which means maybe two weeks yet.
Will await with interest your report. Incidently D&D and NEBOSH in the same 12 hour period requires a suppleness of mind I no longer possess. Good luck!

[Zippee]

Thanks for the update Zippee - I did hear from D&P just a bit ago and my copy is now ordered - which means maybe two weeks yet.
Will await with interest your report. Incidently D&D and NEBOSH in the same 12 hour period requires a suppleness of mind I no longer possess. Good luck!

Ha - I passed the exam but failed to kill any party members, so 50/50

I've managed a skim read - hope to get a game in this Thursday.

I can confirm they're a stand alone set, very nicely produced, soft back spiral bound in full colour. The Italian-English language is somewhat improved over Impetus but still has the odd paragraph/sentence that makes the eyebrows rise until you turn it around and change the tense  

The basing scheme as recommended is different from Impetus, but has a built in flexibility, including breaking the big bases down into 3 smaller ones. The main thing being that the Measurement Unit has changed from being 1cm to being half a unit-base width, so whatever width bases you use, it's easy to rescale the game. That said as the rules are 1550 to 1700 there is less overlap with Impetus than one might think - too used to WRG rules splitting at 1485 I guess, all the early pike stuff and Italian Wars is in Impetus not Baroque. No idea off the cuff what that means for oriental/Asian armies though, I suspect much more overlap as a sipahi is a sipahi. . .

Rules wise there are some significant changes, for instance units are Fresh until VBU is reduced to half and Exhausted if less than half  

Reaction status has kind of replaced opportunity which essentially means any unit may react during the opponents turn but only once. So you record units that have reacted rather than test to go on opportunity. Subtle shift can't say how that changes the game without playing - obviously it makes reactions more likely though. Only specific reactions are available vs specified actions and exhausted units can't react.

Movement is pretty similar - except we now have Fast and Slow versions of troop types in the mix.

Charges have incorporated much of the advanced impetus terminology including potential charges et al

Firing is also familiar but there are far fewer missile types - musket, arquebus, bow, horse pistol/carbine plus 5 grades of artillery. Ranges and values change but the method is the same - opportunity fire remains and defensive fire is introduced along with reiter caracole - essentially shooting is better defined than in Impetus which is good as more units will be shooting  

Melee and the cohesion test look very familiar but re-edited and cleaned up a bit. The proof will be in the playing.

There are several "Special Unit Characteristics" available, such as "Iron Officers"; "Master Gunner"; "Recruits"; "Agitators & Preachers" and "Prostitutes" to name a few - make of that list what you will  

There are also special rules for regimental guns, lances, cuirass, salvo and caracole, etc.

There are 7 basic sample army lists included, more beta lists on the website and "official lists" are promised in a future supplement (the back cover says "special supplements"):
TYW German Catholic 1618-1632
TYW Swedish 1630-1634
ECW Royalist 1642-1643
ECW Parliamentarian 1642-1644
Ottoman Turk 1645-1700
Later Imperialist 1649-1700
Later Polish 1632-1700

And 4 pages of QRS 2 covering setup and terrain, 2 covering game mechanics

Hope that's useful, much is the same, much is subtly different, all looks good, can't wait to get the figures out  

[Bodvoc]

Thanks for that review, I hope to get a copy of those rules soon and I like what I read in your review.

[Leman]

I think one of the best aspects of Baroque is the dumping of opportunity. It was such a pain in Impetus that I have dumped it there as well and use the Baroque system for reaction.

[d_Guy]

 Thanks for the excellent first reaction and overview of Baroque, particularly for confirming that it is a self-contained system.

I use 1"X1" base for everything which generally allows me to adapt to most systems by using movement trays and fiddling with distances.
Presumably this will work with Baroque (based on what I saw in Basic Baroque).

Untested reaction sounds plausible.

Thanks for mentioning the Army Lists - no Covenanters or Irish Confedrates then? 

I should have my copy soon so anxious to try them also.

[Nosher]

Still no sign of it on Northstar website